Zach Ryall

Online, Managing Editor

Zach Ryall is a 1976 graduate of the University of Texas journalism program and has been working for the Austin American-Statesman for 34 years. He started his professional career with the Statesman shooting Friday night football and soon became a full-time staff photographer.

After ten years of shooting, he became the director of photography, managing the visual report and the transition from chemicals and film to the digital world. Since 2008, Ryall has served as the online managing editor for statesman.com and austin360.com, the news and entertainment Websites of the Statesman.

[TX 0305] - Part 1: Introduction and Contribution (5:49)

Zach Ryall, online, managing editor, Statesman.com, Austin360.com, The Austin American-Statesman, has worked at The Statesman for 34 years. Ryall says The Statesman has “a newsroom with a depth and breadth of reporting ability that no other [Austin] news media can match.”

[TX 0306] - Part 2: Skills (5:35)

Zach Ryall, online, managing editor, Statesman.com, Austin360.com, The Austin American-Statesman, says one of the reasons he got his current job was “I had an appreciation of what it takes to turn news quickly and accurately on deadline.” Ryall says an understanding of the business side of news is also critical for today’s news managers. “I think the days are gone to say: ‘All I care about is editorial,’” says Ryall.

[TX 0307] - Part 3: Adaptation & the Future (3:13)

Zach Ryall, online, managing editor, Statesman.com, Austin360.com, The Austin American-Statesman, says The Statesman has made a 100 percent commitment to offer all its news products digitally. “Any newspaper that wants to be profitable has to think that way,” says Ryall. Despite his deep attachment to digital media, Ryall says he expects print to be around until he retires. I expect “a print product and a digital [newspaper] product to coexist for some time,” says Ryall.